Recent Articles

1921 in the United Kingdom

See also: 1920 in the United Kingdom, other events of 1921, 1922 in the United Kingdom and the Timeline of British history.

---

Events

• January 3 - The airships R.36 and R.37 are completed.

• January 14 - Unemployment stands at 927,000.

• January 20 - The Royal Navy submarine K.5 sinks in the English Channel with the loss of 56 lives.

• January 26 - Seventeen people are killed when two passenger trains collide in Montgomeryshire.

• February 12 - Winston Churchill is appointed Colonial Secretary.

• February 16 - Unemployment now stands at over one million. The Government announces an increase in unemployment benefit.

• March 11 - Queen Mary becomes the first woman to be awarded an (honorary) degree by Oxford University.

• March 16 - Britain signs a trade agreement with Soviet Russia.

• March 17 - Andrew Bonar Law, the Conservative leader, resigns due to ill-health.

• March 17 - Dr Marie Stopes opens Britain's first birth control clinic in Holloway, London.

• March 21 - Austen Chamberlain replaces Bonar Law as Conservative leader.

• March 26 - Shaun Spadah wins the Grand National.

• March 31 - A state of emergency is declared after another coal strike is called.

• April 3 - Coal rationing begins.

• April 13 - Lloyds Bank takes over Fox, Fowler and Co, the last provincial English bank to issue its own banknotes.

• April 15 - The national strike, due to be declared by the 'Triple Alliance', is called off.

• April 23 - Tottenham Hotspur beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 in the FA Cup Final.

• April 26 - Police patrol London on motorcycles for the first time.

• May 4 - Sinn Feiners murder a police inspector in Glasgow.

• May 7 - Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan arrives on an official visit.

• May 22 - The USA beats Britain 9 rounds to 3 in the first golf international between the two countries.

• May 24 - In general elections for the new Northern Ireland Parliament, Ulster Unionists win 40 out of 52 seats.

• June 1 - Humorist wins the Derby. For the first time the result is broadcast live by wireless.

• June 6 - King George V opens Southwark Bridge in London.

• June 7 - The new Northern Ireland Parliament assembles.

• June 10 - Unemployment reaches 2.2 million.

• June 12 - Sunday postal collection and delivery ends.

• June 15 - Two million workers are currently involved in pay disputes.

• June 22 - King George V opens the first Northern Ireland Parliament.

• June 24 - The world's largest airship, the R.38, makes its maiden flight at Bedford.

• June 25 - Rainfall ends a 100-day drought.

• June 28 - The coal strike ends.

• July 2 - Bill Tilden and Suzanne Lenglen retain their Wimbledon titles.

• July 7 - General Jan Smuts meets King George V to discuss the Irish situation.

• July 12 - Sinn Fein leader Eamon de Valera arrives in London for talks.

• July 18 - Ulster Unionist negotiators walk out of the truce talks in London.

• August 19 - Unemployment falls to 1,640,600.

• August 24 - The airship ZR II explodes at Hull, killing 43 people.

• August 30 - England beat Australia, for the first time this year, in the final Test Match.

• September 9 - Charlie Chaplin visits London and is met by thousands.

• September 23 - The second female MP enters Parliament.

• October 8 - The steamer Rowan sinks off the coast of Scotland. 36 people lose their lives.

• October 11 - The Irish Treaty Conference opens in London.

• November 21 - Troops are sent to restore order after rioting breaks out in East Belfast.

• November 22 - At least ten people die in widespread shootings in Belfast.

• November 30 - Sir Basil Thompson retires after forty years as the head of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch.

• December 7 - British and Irish negotiators sign an agreement giving independence to the Irish Free State.

• December 16 - Parliament ratifies the Irish Treaty.